Do Lawyers Impair Economic Growth?

The large U.S. legal profession hurts economic productivity in the United States and our economic competitiveness abroad according to a common claim A number of studies support that claim, but they suffer from serious flaws. I reexamine the hypothesis that large lawyer populations impair economic growth and suggest that it lacks theoretical and empirical support. The hypothesis depends on false assumptions about the organizational capability and interest of the legal profession; the empirical research in sup port of the hypothesis depends on flawed lawyer data, unusual combinations of high lawyer populations and low economic growth in one or two countries, and the unjustified use of lawyer population figures from the 1980s in analyses of economic growth prior to that period. I present the results of research on lawyer populations and economic growth among the US. states and in a sample of countries, correcting for the worst flaws of past research The results do not support the claim that large lawyer populations impair aggregate economic growth The analysis is not intended as the final answer on this important question but rather as an encouragement for a more sophisticated understanding of the role of lawyers in late modern economies.     

朝阳区律师服务经济社会发展的实践与思考

北京市朝阳区区域面积470．6平方公里,人口229万,目前已成为北京市最大的建设发展区。朝阳区现有律师事务所510多家,从业律师8200多人,占全市总数的40％,遍布全区30个街乡。这些年来,朝阳区广大律师依法开展法律服务,积极参与诉讼活动,参与涉法涉诉信访和调解工作,认真履行法律援助义务,广泛参与社会公益活动,为促进我区经济社会发展、维护社会公平正义、维护社会和谐稳定、维护人民群众合法权益作出了积极贡献。广大律师已成为依法治国、建设社会主义法治国家的重要力量。     

组织引导律师服务经济转型升级的思考与实践

经济改革和法制建设，是贯穿改革开放30年的两条主线。市场经济就是法治经济，市场经济的良性发展离不开法治的规制和保障。市场经济越发达、经济业态越高，对法律服务的要求也就越高，二者是相伴相生的。当前，经济发展正面临着许多新情况、新变化，浙江正处于经济转型升级的关键时期。     

董刚：为年轻律师的成长搭梯子

尽管坐在《法人》记者对面的董刚是一名30岁出头的年轻律师，但他的职业律师生涯已达10年，而且在26岁的时候，他与合作伙伴创办了北京市荣德律师事务所，并担任律师事务所主任；     

Public Lawyers and Private Clients: An Empirical Observation on the Relative Success Rates of Cause Lawyers

Cause lawyering is often criticized for creating an untenable tension between the professional obligations of the lawyer to the individual client and the lawyer's ideological commitment to public causes. I sought to test empirically the validity of this argument by comparing the relative success rates of political lawyers and non‐political lawyers in defending their clients' interests in litigation concerning house‐demolition orders before the Israeli High Court of Justice. I found that the general success rates of political lawyers in the research population were significantly higher than those of non‐political lawyers. These findings can serve as an additional support for the various arguments in favor of cause lawyering.     

关于律师实习制度的若干思考

一年前,历经千辛万苦,笔者通过了国家司法考试,怀着对律师职业的无限憧憬,踌躇满志地踏上了律途,然而经过理论与实践短期零距离接触之后,我惊恐地发现,律师职业之路并非我曾经梦想般的平坦与顺利。无案源、无生活保障、无社会资源的“三无”弱势身份使笔者备受熬煎,从业的自豪感、职业的归属感、创业的激情感的日渐消解不时地侵袭着对梦想的执著与坚定。前不久,一位师兄的无奈改行,不经意却又必然地激活和催发了笔者对律师实习制度的理性思考。一、对国外律师实习制度的比较考察“律师从业前需要实习”已成为各国立法的普遍需求,也即实习成…     

内地与香港律师管理之比较

应“内地与香港律师专业发展计划”的安排,2005年8月2日,大连市律师协会一行11人去香港进行了为期一个月的研修,经过对香港律师协会、大律师公会、律政司、立法会、委托公证人协会、中国法律服务(香港)有限公司等单位为期一周的参见、参察,在香港的p.c.woo&co律师事务所进行了为期三周的工作与学习,对两地的律师管理有了更深一步的了解。对于内地而言,真正意义上的律师管理制度的建立是在上个世纪80年代。1996年5月,《中华人民共和国律师法》正式颁布,为内地律师制度确立了法律基础,自此,内地的律师和律师事务所开始步入了专业化、规模化的…     

律师执业行为规范的思考

一、律师执业行为与律师执业行为规范律师执业行为是指律师在法律允许的范围内,从事与律师职务相关的活动。律师执业行为规范是指律师在职务活动中应当遵守法定的或者约定的行为规则。律师执业行为规范是律师执业行为的保障和约束,而律师执业行为是律师执业规范的具体反映。随着我国经济体制改革的不断深入,律师执业活动范围和空间的不断扩大,律师执业行为由单一的参与法院审理案件的诉讼活动,逐步延伸到涉及国企改制、公司上市、房地产按揭等各种经济活动中。律师执业行为过程中应当包含律师执业行为的权利规范和律师执业行为的义务规范两…     

律师执业精神初探

具有中国特色的社会主义律师文化,是律师行业的精神支柱,而律师执业精神是律师文化的核心。加强律师文化建设,必须形成符合社会主义法治理念要求和律师职业特征的律师执业精神,并以此作为整个律师行业的价值追求取向。本文提出了律师应注意培养的十种执业精神,希望对律师文化建设有所裨益。     

律师行业党建工作的实践与思考

目前,浙江省嘉兴市南湖区共有区属律师事务所7家,其中合伙制律师事务所2家,个人律师事务所5家。共有执业律师44人,其中党员17人,占执业律师总数的38.6%。     

关于律师和律师事务所两管理规章的解读

2006年7月18日，吴爱英部长签发第111号、第112号司法部令，发布了《律师事务所管理办法》和《律师执业管理办法》。这是司法部贯彻实施新修订的《律师法》的重要举措，是确保新《律师法》正确、有效实施的两部重要配套规章。     

试论检察官与律师的良性互动

一、检察官与律师良性互动的理论阐释 检察官与律师的良性互动，一是指两者职业互动，即从优秀律师中选拔检察官和检察官辞职从事律师职业；二是诉讼行为互动，即在诉讼活动中检察官与律师秉承法治精神，依照法律规定行使各自的诉讼职能，规范地实施各自的诉讼行为，并在这一过程中相互尊重、平等交流、相互支持、相互促进、相互监督，共同维护法律的正确实施，促进司法的公正、高效与廉洁，进而维护社会的公平与正义。对此，可从以下几个方面来理解：     

律师性质初论

确定律师的性质，也就是明晰律师的本质特点，是界定律师与其它职业之间区别的关键所在。律师性质的正确界定，是律师制度得以正确发展的基础。     

Overstating the Satisfaction of Lawyers

Recent literature commonly reports US lawyers as disheartened and discontented, but more than two dozen statistically based studies report that the great majority of lawyers put themselves on the satisfied side of scales of job satisfaction. The claim of this article is that, in three ways, these statistically based studies convey an overly rosy impression of lawyers' attitudes: first, that many of those who put themselves above midpoints on satisfaction scales are barely more positive than negative about their careers and often have profound ambivalence about their work; second, that surveys conducted at a single point in time necessarily fail to include the views of those who once worked in that setting but have now gone elsewhere; and third, that few studies address the problems of bias that may be caused by lower rates of response from the least satisfied persons in the population sampled.